As a coach, what relationship with the media do you have? In today’s guest post Jeff Thompson shares tips, and invites your comments, about improving your media relationship.

How You Act Is What You Will See or Read

Coaching Tips For A Good Relationship With The Media

by Jeff Thompson

I often work with projects that have the potential to receive media coverage. This includes radio, print, television, and the Internet. I have developed over time a method which I think has lead to successful interactions with the media as well as what I would consider positive coverage.

I also often hear from people that I have worked with (not-for profits, NGO’s, etc.) from different groups and organizations on how they feel their relationship with the media is strained or nonexistent. They will often ask me my opinion and how have I handled such situations. This recently came up again during a roundtable discussion while being part of a civic and interfaith delegation that traveled to Barcelona, Spain. The discussion included leaders of various faith organizations and members of the media.

Two reoccurring themes which seemed to be present during this discussion was 1) a lack of media coverage of ‘good’ stories while most stories were not properly including their perspective and 2) the groups consistently wondered how they could develop a better rapport with the media.

As I looked at their situation from my conflict resolution training and work I have done in the past, specifically in conflict and communication coaching and consulting, and I decided to share some thoughts and experiences with the group that I will also share here today.

As a leader of the one of the projects that was receiving the coverage and media inquiries, I often would handle the inquiry from the initial stage, providing background (information on the event for the producer to develop a game plan for the interview or filming footage for example), the days leading up to the event, the day of the event and following up with group or individual after the event was completed.

I had a simple formula including only a few key points:

1) Respond to inquiries right away. (Even, as it is often, if it after hours. Even brief responses like “Thanks for the email, Let me work on this, I look forward to calling you tomorrow morning.”)

2) Treat local press the same way as international press. Okay, well I do not treat everyone the exact same way but my point here is to treat the local reporter with respect similar to how you would treat the national correspondent. Numerous times I would have reporters from a variety of media outlets serving varying audiences present at events. Admittedly I would make sure the national press was taken care of but I also would make it a point to constantly check in with the local press as well.

3) Be available. Take their phone calls when they call, answer emails, try to be as friendly and open as possible. Build rapport through immediacy. If you know the difference of a call going straight to voicemail compared to one or two rings and then voicemail being activated odds are other people know this too. Also, if they see you have an iPhone, Google Droid phone or Blackberry mobile, people then will also know you get your email instantaneously so saying you did not get your email until you went to your office two days later will not fool anyone.

4) Meet them (in person!). Yes, logistics might prevent this (try Skype then) however do not let the ease of new technology allow to continually bypass the important aspect of meeting people face to face. Technology also allows each of us to be lazy and realize it is much easier to send an email, make a phone call or text someone instead of arranging a meeting in person.

Often during press inquires, I offer and go as far as suggesting we meet in person to go over logistics and provide background. Think of this also from a general sense of meeting a new client, potential parties to a mediation or potential project team members. It is much easier to develop a relationship and get important points across when speaking in person. Also, aside from speaking, think about it for moment how important the other part of communication is and how it is much better displayed in person compared to other forms of communicating. Yes, listening, in my opinion is much easier to display (think of all the nonverbal cues available) while meeting someone in person.

Also consider the location and the effect that has on first impressions and developing a rapport with someone. My preference and style is to try and be personal and informal while also keeping things from completing a pointless banter session.

For me, the best place to meet someone is meeting at a local cafe. It is a great way to start the conversation and relationship over a coffee, cortado or flat white based on where you are that particular month (USA, Barcelona, or Australia for those wondering!).

Keep in mind also how choosing an informal, neutral, location can help put the other person more at ease. In the case of my day job being a detective in law enforcement and perhaps some readers being a leader of a religious congregation, think about how it could be intimidating (which a reporter will never admit!) or simply just not as conducive to establishing a friendly conversation compared to a neutral location.

A last suggestion to keep in mind in regards to meeting them in person is reporters, like many other people, are very busy. Offer to meet them at a cafe of their choice that is near them. This shows you are also flexible- the next tip to be discussed.

5) Be flexible. If you ask them to be there at a certain time but they ask for a different time, find out why (yep, that’s right- find out the interests behind the positions!). Think about it, if you have to show up a half hour earlier or stay twenty minutes longer in order for the article to be written, ask yourself- is it worth it and what is your goal?

6) Follow up. This is something very easy to overlook and perhaps it is one of those practices that might not even show up on feedback forms or even relayed to you verbally. However, it is the follow up email in the form of thanking them and expressing how nice it was to meet and work with them while inviting them to stay in touch is one of those non-tangible actions which delivers a result powerful enough to leave a lasting memory of the event for the other person. I like to also call it being genuine. A simple phone call or email after the event can have a lasting, positive, impact.

Of course there are many other tips and suggestions that have worked for me such as employing certain types of nonverbal communication techniques but that would extend this blog post beyond my attempt of a “quick read”. Also, for more in-depth tips and practices come to one of my trainings or reach out to me via phone or email- I do consulting after all!

The preceding points I employed to achieve one goal- good, positive coverage. It’s simple to me- if they are happy, then I fully believe it increases the chances for better coverage. The proof- well it is not scientific but I think the coverage 9.9 times out of 10 have been favorable. I cannot prove the correlation between this but it is something I truly believe.

Looking at this also from a perspective beyond just “getting good media” coverage, these tips which have been successful for me in regards to rapport building with the media transcends this particular subject. These actions fall under that label proactive communication. One important element to remember is reporters, like many of the people you will interact with, are smart people and if you try use these tips without being genuine, most likely they will see through it and the result will be a further strained relationship.

Of course me being me there is more for me to provide and perhaps some examples of the adverse treatment which lead to negative responses from media.

“Way back in the day” I was working with a communication manager for a company who saw things differently in regards to the press. Their key points were:

1) Make them wait.

2) Find out who they are, their title and how big their audience is. This means treat everyone different.

3) If I am late no big deal, have them wait. If I cannot make it, reschedule it- even if they already arrived.

4) We tell them when to come, what to do and how to do it.

5) Have them let us know when it will air/be published.

From a conflict coach’s perspective I believe this reflection is a great case study on how we act effects others and also the dynamics of a working environment. Looking deeper, it also allows one to think how he or she would respond, and how that might possibly vary due to our particular role in the situation.

Themes which come to my mind, from a communication and conflict resolution approach, include involving the other person in on the process; establishing lines of communication; building rapport early on; “checking in”; expressing gratitude and appreciation afterwards; and finally silence.

I refer to silence in respect to the fact that I realized that my approach was not the same as the communications manager. Using silence instead of arguing sometimes is the better route to go down. Additionally, there is always more than one way to accomplish one’s goals.

From what I have experienced both as a consultant and the person involved, the adversarial approach is not effective with the media, it is equally not advisable and smart to take that approach with a supervisor. Moving beyond a possible intractable situation based on positions, I was able to work open ended questions along with reality testing and use of empathy.

Did it work?

No.

Really, it did not. Some people do not share this same approach and it creates a conflict, internally for me in this case which did leak out during conversations.

This communication manager ultimately prevailed as he/she was the boss while at the same time I still made it a point to act as true as I could to my standards. It is these learning experiences which I hope are valuable learning lessons on how our trainings and books we read do not always manifest the way we hope or how the books tell us it should.

This last section I included as a way to provide a reality check to show that when working with the media, or anyone else for that matter, does not always go the way we planned. Sometimes a supervisor or manager chooses a different approach while other times you act in a manner which seemed honest and open and the result is still not what you wanted. I think it provides a valuable opportunity to become, or continue being, a reflective practitioner. Being able to look and reflect on a situation and see how the plan (or theory) and implementation were not identical also each of us to learn and hopefully better prepare ourselves for future engagements.

I look forward to hearing people’s comments and thoughts on this. Have you been doing something similar, if so how has it gone? If these tips are new to you, what do you think? If you do try these, come back and let me know what happened. You can leave comments or email me at mediator.Jeff [at] gmail.com.

Enjoy!

About the Author/Further Resources

Jeff Thompson, MS in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, is employed primarily as a law enforcement detective in New York City. Jeff also mediates, negotiates, coaches, and consults for various clients. He has spoken in the USA, Australia and Europe on topics including nonverbal communication and conflict resolution for various audiences and always looks forward to inquiries and feedback.

Visit Jeff’s site at www.EnjoyMediation.com